A Financial Journey: Corinne Kerston

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Corrine Kerston, author of OneIncomeLife.com, is a personal finance blogger who has more than six years of experience working in accounting, banking and loans.

Corrine and her husband became debt-free more than three years ago and live off a single income. Corrine shares her journey on their path to financial independence, which took a lot of planning and budgeting.

1. What is the inspiration behind One Income Life?

It stemmed from a number of things. I have always enjoyed saving money and budgeting.

I knew I wanted to focus on families making the decision to go down to one income to help them realize they can do it because I was there once.

I combined these passions and One Income Life was born, a personal finance blog for families striving to make it work on just one income.

2. Do you have a background in finance or business?

After graduation, I went into accounting. I ended up working in accounting and then in banking and loans for six years before deciding to stay home with my children.

3. What sparked your interest in the financial field?

Besides my financial background, I have always enjoyed saving money. We have been debt-free for about three years now and it was the best thing we ever did.

4. What are the biggest financial obstacles you have overcome?

Probably getting out of debt and then transitioning to life on one income. Our debt was paid off just before our second child was born.

We managed to pay off all our debt by putting all of our additional income toward one debt at a time.

Once our son was born, we were in a much better place financially, but the sudden drop in income took a little adjusting. It’s been three years now and we make it work.

5. Which financial topic do you like to write about the most?

Frugality! Because who doesn’t like to save money?

“Pay off your credit card

bills on time every time.”

6. What is one piece of financial advice you have learned?

Watch your credit. Even if you aren’t planning to make a big-ticket purchase like a home or vehicle anytime soon, a negative credit report or a bad credit score will impact you for years to come.

And pay more than the minimum balance due. The faster you can pay off that debt, the better.

7. Could you tell us a little about your ebooks?

I currently have two ebooks out on work-at-home topics – one about starting a freelance writing business and a more general one about starting a home business.

The second will fit just about any type of home business. Both will walk the reader through setting up their business, including researching the competition and their potential customers, two factors that are essential to creating a successful home business.

I also recently started a series called “Profitable Blogging,” which talks about how to make money blogging. I plan to add more ebooks to that series real soon.

The first book talks about choosing a topic people will actually want to read. Without the right readers, it’s really difficult to make real money blogging.

I started writing these ebooks mainly because I was seeing many work-at-home moms asking questions about how to market their business or saying they weren’t sure where to start and that they needed their business to succeed.

It made me think many people jump into home businesses (and blogging) without really doing the necessary research and planning to ensure their endeavor will be successful.

8. Are you planning to write any more ebooks in the future?

Definitely! Besides adding more to the “Profitable Blogging” series, I plan to write more home business ebooks focusing on other specific industries.

Toby has worked in personal finance since 2004, authoring countless guides and resources for web users. On BadCredit.org, Toby is charged with reviewing services and blogs for recommendation to our site's audience.

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